


Still Screwing Over From 6 Ft. Under

by GallagherHunter



Series: You Dreamed of Flying [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: AU, But I also didn't think this far, Gen, I mean as if the first tag wasn't AU enough, I mean he's not actually there. But he is the central point of the story, Mentioned Peter Parker, No Beta We Get Snapped by Thanos because this was supposed to be a one-shot, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), This is not going the way I thought it would, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, but it usually doesn't lead to good things, i don't know how to tag, or does it?, though the first tag is a Schrödinger cat kinda thing, what is canon but someone else's fanfiction anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28643916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallagherHunter/pseuds/GallagherHunter
Summary: When FRIDAY announced to Tony that she'd found the identity of the Spiderling the absolutely last thing Tony was actually expecting was that he would be much closer to him than he thought. And by that, he means that SI has been basically paying for the kid'severythingsince before he was born.ORTony learns 14 years too late that double-dealing wasn't Obadiah's only sin.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: You Dreamed of Flying [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125302
Comments: 32
Kudos: 447





	1. More Than You Bargained For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took so many liberties with Mary Parker.
> 
> So Peter is the main point of this whole fic but he's not actually in it. This came to me out of nowhere and here we are 4k words later. Inspiration is a funny thing. And I do have a thing for Biodad!Tony, so here we are. I mean I have so many WIPs but this basically wrote itself.
> 
> I am no expert in having any variation of a panic attack so sorry if this is not at all accurate. I don't think he actually had a full-on panic attack but I'm not sure if I did a good job of that. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

Tony entered his lab, coffee cup in hand. He was planning on updating the suit’s hand repulsors, probably finish the specs for the new Starktablet model. Pepper had told him to go over the design of the Starkphone again.

The lab was impeccable. Tony hadn’t come in here since the trip to Rio a week earlier. He walked up to his usual Iron Man worktable and moved his hand to display a holoscreen. If he was here, he might as well catch up on things. Tony always had FRIDAY working on something. He calls out.

“What do you have for me, Fri?”

Tony was working through the Iron Man suit’s arm. Zooming in on the cable that powers the repulsors and connects them to the reactor while FRIDAY answered. She listed a couple minor findings, but even she seemed delighted with the next thing she listed off.

"I've found the identity of the Spiderling"

Tony paused his hand midair and smiled. A screen popped up to his right showing a school photo of a white boy with brown hair and eyes. Tony would know later this was the moment everything changed. For now, the only thought that briefly crossed his mind as he stared at the boy was that he seemed familiar, he just couldn’t place him.

"Great, Fri, who is he?"

Next to the picture, a series of documents showed up, a report card, pictures of newspaper stories, a few articles, an address, a medical record, a series of emails, was that a shopping list? Where had FRIDAY gotten that from?

"His name is Peter Benjamin Parker"

Tony stared hard at the kid. He couldn’t quite shake the feeling he'd seen him somewhere before. "Tell me everything we have on him."

FRIDAY displayed seven screens almost all the documents were visible. One of them had the video of the Spider stopping a car with his bare hands. The picture of Peter stayed enlarged in front of him, below the image it read: _Peter B. Parker. School photo. Midtown School of Science and Technology._

"Peter is a freshman at Midtown School of Science and Technology with a 4.0 GPA. He obtained a perfect score in his entrance exam. He is part of his school’s band, robotics club, and decathlon team. He is 14 years old, born in Queens on August 10, 2001 to Mary and Richard Parker. Both of his parents died in a plane crash on September 23, 2005. He went to live with his paternal uncle, Benjamin Parker, and his wife, May Parker after his parents’ deaths. His uncle was murdered on a street in Queens on the night of November 20, 2015. Since then, Mr. Parker has been under the care of his aunt in an apartment in Queens.”

The pictures of the boy’s relatives move next to his picture. Tony’s eyebrows knit together. A face among them seems familiar. He knows it from somewhere. A sense of dejá vú strikes him as the pictures float in front of him.

“He attended various days to the Stark Expo in 2010 with his aunt and late uncle; including opening night and the night of the drone attack. He is visited at least once a month by an SI employee and all his expenses are paid by Stark Industries."

"Wait, what?" His question stops FRIDAY from continuing to ramble on about the kid. Tony’s voice is laced with confusion as he looks to an accounting document that shows up on the screen to his left. Some of the emails from before move next to it, the Stark Industries’ logo is seen in many of them. "What do you mean paying his expenses?"

"All his basic needs are covered. Currently, his expenses are divided in seven categories as well as twelve subcategories. Under the healthcare category he is insured by Stark Industries. This covers all his doctor appointments; family doctor, dentist, optometrist, pulmonologist; including medicine, glasses, contact lenses, treatments, and other needs derived from these visits. In the education category his school supplies, transportation and lunch money-two of which overlap with other categories- are covered, as is his tuition. This also includes any extra expenses such as field trips, fundraisers, decathlon meets, certain materials for extracurriculars, and personal band instrument.”

Tony hears FRIDAY keep talking and listing off expenses but it sounds muffled in his ears. The words enter his ear but don’t form coherent sentences. This doesn’t make sense. When Tony went in search of the Queens’ spider themed vigilante he wasn’t expecting it to end in his own company. This was closer to him than it should have been.

He recovers his ability of _comprehension_ as FRIDAY keeps explaining the extent of the support Stark Industries supplies in Peter Parker’s life.

“There is a trust fund in place for the university of his choice. A savings account has steadily been growing to be accessible when Mr. Parker turns 18. Since its inception, he has received the newest model of Stark Industries’ personal technology line as soon as it becomes available, especially the Starkphone. He also receives $100 DLLs in cash weekly to spend at his desire. His expenses coverage by SI has occurred since before was born, six months to be exact."

_What? Why? How?_ Goes through Tony's mind before settling on saying to FRIDAY. "Who authorized this?"

It may be that Tony’s sense of time was shaken but the answer takes longer than it has before. Later when he thinks of this moment he will claim that FRIDAY was waiting on him because of how disoriented he was, that he wasn’t fully processing things and not because she knew what had happened, how hard it was for him.

"Obadiah Stane, Boss"

The name echoes around the room, and then it echoes in his head. Replaying over and over and over again. Each time quieter than the last but never quite disappearing. The light from the screens around him burn into his eyes. There is no other sound but the echo of that name.

Tony thinks he sits down. He doesn’t remember whether he was sitting down before FRIDAY said she’d found the Spider. He isn’t sure if he’s sitting down right now. What he does feel are his hands. They are gripping the edge of the workstation. One quick glance at them shows his knuckles are white. Tony blinks twice before he remembers to breathe.

At least the echo is gone.

His mind is a mix of past and present. Of a man hugging him for special occasions and smiling at him. Of a devil’s smirk as he stares down at him, destroying everything they fought for. Feeling terror as a man takes the one thing keeping him alive. There’s a woman. There’s a funeral and a man standing by his side. There’s Pepper as she tells him he’s going to kill himself. There’s the picture of a 14-year-old boy with brown hair and eyes.

“Why?”

He doesn’t really hear it, the croak. He feels his lips moving. He keeps staring at his hands gripping the table. He can’t look up. Those screens are gonna blind him.

How long does someone have to stare at something before that thing becomes an abstract thought in your mind?

Tony doesn’t know because FRIDAY’s voice startles him out of the spinning mess that is his unprocessing mind.

“There is no record of a reason for why Mary Parker’s son receives these benefits, though I believe I’ve found a match. There is record of a Mary Fitzpatrick, an ex Stark Industries outsource. Facial recognition shows a match between the two. Mary Parker neé Fitzpatrick was the daughter of an independent contractor for SI, she took over her father’s job as main consultant for Stark Industries when he passed away and until she died in a plane crash in 2005. There is correspondence between Mr. Stane and Ms. Fitzpatrick dating back years.”

Looking up to the blinding holoscreens Tony sees two pictures of Mary, a number at the bottom showing the percentage of the match. A marriage certificate appears somewhere on the screen and on another part a photo shows up of who Tony presumes is Mary’s father. There are files in order, many files. One in front of the other. All contracts. Another screen shows emails. Many emails.

“What kind of consultant job did she have that would extend such measures?” Tony asks offhandedly. It's more a mumble to himself than an actual question. His face pinches as if that alone will help him decipher the puzzle. The Pandora box he just opened.

There weren’t many reasons for Obadiah to agree to something like this, and none of the options were good.

For starters, if it had something to do with Mary herself it meant she could have had dirt on Obadiah. Or about Stark Industries. She could have known about Obadiah’s double dealing. He could have bought her silence.

Tony’s heart rate starts up suddenly, his heart hitting his ribcage _hard_. His hands were cold but he felt the sweat on them. He’s beginning to hear his own heartbeat. Has it always been this loud?

Mary could have been part of it. Maybe she made the deals. She could be the one that got SI into this in the first place. All those deaths. The things he blamed himself for not noticing sooner. It could have been her that started all this bloodbath.

Something in the back of his head whispered that that option was incongruent and he knew it. That he already knew the truth. But that just whispered, his mind yelled.

And as bad as it was to think wrong of a dead person, Tony preferred this to other options. Because if it wasn’t about Mary and it was about Peter… that was a whole different can of worms he was not ready to open. Not now, probably not ever. On one hand, he could be Obadiah’s kid, which was bad enough on its own. But it could also be someone else’s. Someone's who would explain better why it was Stark Industries specifically who paid for things. Why they were still covering him even after Obadiah’s death. Why someone from Stark Industries went and personally checked on the boy once a month.

Tony tried to take a shaky breath but his chest would not expand. In an attempt to _breathe_ he closed his eyes. There was no proof yet. This was circumstantial, he was going down the rabbit hole for _speculation_. He had to stick to the facts.

It seems eternal but eventually Tony opens his eyes again and stares hard at the display in front of him. FRIDAY's voice sounds a second later.

“She was a business consultant, Boss.”

Tony will be honest. He completely forgot he asked anything.

He takes a couple breaths. No speculation, facts. He needs facts. He needs hard proof.

“What do we actually have for explanation, Fri?”

Tony grabs his left wrist. The numb feeling is coming back. He will focus on the evidence before jumping to conclusions. 

"I've scanned through emails in the archive and I've come across one that potentially explains the involvement of Stark Industries with Peter Parker. It is dated September 3, 2001. Mary Fitzpatrick sent it to Obidiah Stane's company email." There’s a pause from FRIDAY, a deliberate one. Yet it doesn’t feel like she’s waiting for Tony to catch up. “It was also sent to your company email, Boss. It was deleted without opening.”

This time FRIDAY doesn’t wait for a reaction before the screen lights up with new content. The display of an email is what shows up in front of him. As if anything else would. It's obviously from the early two thousands just by looking at the layout. 

The subject says Blue Bird. The email itself is short. Two small sentences.

_Meet baby Stark. His name is Peter._

There is a file attached in it which FRIDAY displays next to the email. It is a picture of a smiling woman, presumably Mary, holding a baby with wide brown eyes. Tony doesn’t know much about babies but even he thinks that the baby was too small in Mary’s arms. It was a small blue bundle with an even smaller pink face. Maybe it was just the blue hat the same shade as the blanket that ate all his head.

Tony reads the email again.

And again.

And again.

And one more time.

The message is the same no matter how many times he reads it. And although it doesn’t give the answer outright it gives the biggest clue of the century.

The words are seared into the back of his eyelids.

_Baby Stark_

Tony shakes his head. Physically removing his thoughts. He can't think about the implications of the email. Not even the fact the email was meant for him too and never got to read it. He has to focus on something else. _Anything else._

"Why is this email in the archives?" Tony’s voice is half breath, half whisper. FRIDAY only understands due to her previous collected data of Tony’s patterns, mannerisms, and mouth movements.

"It was opened and deleted at Stark Industries under an employee email. As you must know, Boss, part of one of SI's policies is all high enough ranking employees' communication must be archived even after deleted."

Yes, he knew that. In the back of his mind, Tony could recall using Obadiah's company email to find out more about all the things he had done-which were more than he had thought- a week after the final showdown with him.

And just like that an idea comes to Tony.

"We did that to his personal emails, right?" Tony asks, his breathing coming short. The question again is half rhetorical, he already knows the answer. "They’re archived too?"

"Yes, if he opened or deleted them within Stark Industries' servers, they are archived." 

Tony doesn’t respond, just looks as the holoscreen to his left starts to show different emails from and sent to Obadiah Stane.

There is a simpler answer in here. There is a better explanation. There has to be. Because Tony can’t deal with what everything is pointing to.

Maybe he should have waited to open the can of worms. Should have walked away when he could.

"There is an email with paternity test results."

FRIDAY had never sounded so sympathetic in her life.

There is a split second. An infinitesimal moment where Tony believes Obadiah actually had a kid and the mystery was solved. That he’d almost lost his head because of the man.

The moment lasts as much as the holoscreen blinking, showing the email from some health clinic in Malibu to Obadiah’s personal email.

_August 23, 2001_

_Good morning, Mr. Stane._

_As requested and with all the discretion used in these cases we have the results for the paternity test with all the specifications._

_Subject A: Peter_

_Subject B: Anthony_

_Blood test result: 99.9% positive match._

_A file showing the full results is attached to this email._

A document opens next to the email. Tony barely glances at it. He guesses it's the full results. Tony’s eyes are locked onto a single line in the email. He thought he had the words _baby Stark_ seared to the back of his eyelids, that it would be what would haunt him at night. He was a fool.

_Blood test result: 99.9% positive match._

There is a humming in the back of his mind. Maybe it’s a machine he left on. Maybe one of the bots making noise. A naive part of him thinks it’s his mother as she hums a lullaby to get him to sleep.

_99.9% positive match._

The humming gets louder. Then it stops being a hum and turns into a buzzing. It turns to blood rushing through his ears.

_Positive match._

It’s a voice. He distinguishes it’s a voice. He knows it's actually a voice calling to him. It sounds melodic, sweet, gentle. It sounds like his mother.

_I love you._

He hears.

There’s a lullaby, she’s singing a lullaby to him.

_Hmm, hmhm, mmhmm._

A shiver is what takes him out of the trance-like state. The voice is there calling him again. But it’s no longer his mother’s.

FRIDAY’s voice resounds across the lab, which is suddenly too quiet. There doesn’t seem to be any noise at all. Not the bots, not any machine, not the city.

"Boss?"

Tony closes his eyes and takes a breath before nodding his head.

FRIDAY's voice is gentle again. Calming and slow. As if Tony were a frightened animal. Maybe he is.

"The document with the full results reveals it was tested three times as requested by Mr. Stane. Other specifications include discretion with the test and results, immediate resolution, results be sent directly to Mr. Stane, no use of last names, and no mention of the true reason for the test to subject B."

Blood test results. It was blood. They could have taken a cheek swab but they used blood. Just because he wouldn’t know the true reason doesn’t mean he wouldn’t _know_ someone took his blood.

"When did they even take my blood?" 

There was only a first name there. Maybe it wasn’t him. There weren’t any logical reasons for Obadiah to request a paternity test of two people he didn’t have any connection with but there were no last names. It could have been anyone. The fact there were no last names wasn’t actually in his favour, but denial was easier, at least for a second. If they never took his blood then the test is not real. The test isn’t about him.

"There is record of an appointment for you on the day the sample was taken in a Malibu private clinic, Boss. There is no record of you ever receiving those results."

It feels like the bomb that hit him in Afghanistan. His name printed on the side. Except shrapnel isn’t going straight to his heart. But something else is.

_This isn't real._

This couldn’t be happening. This isn’t happening. This is some sick twisted joke. This isn't a drama. Or some movie. This coincidental event where he searches for Peter Parker to find him being his son is not real.

_But it is._

He needs to breathe.

_How long would he have lasted not knowing this if_ **_hadn't_ ** _been looking for the Spider guy? If he hadn't been looking for the identity of the Queen's vigilante? If he hadn't stumbled across Peter Parker?_

No. No, he couldn't think about that. He couldn't deal with more speculation. He had to think about something else. He had to finish this riddle. He had to get as far as he could down this rabbit hole. He could barely deal with the truth right now.

A fourteen-year-old living truth running around Queens in a onesie.

_Anything else._

He took another breath.

“When did I even meet her? Was it a party? Some gala? You said she worked at SI?”

Tony is asking FRIDAY, but at the same time, he’s trying to solve this himself. It's in his mind. Under alcohol, drugs, layers of memories and the lack of care he had back in those years. He lived through this.

“She was not a full-time employee of Stark Industries. Her consultations were done on a bimonthly basis. On certain occasions she was contacted under an ‘emergency situation’ overpassing her regularly scheduled visits. According to records, her consultation meetings began with Mr. Stane, and on several occasions included you, Boss, to be followed by her visiting different departments in an average of 3.38 days and ending in another meeting with Mr. Stane. The archives show contact between her and SI was in person and through emails, fax, phone calls, voicemails, statements, and a few notes."

At some point Tony realizes he doesn't need all the information that FRIDAY is saying but it works as a sort of balm for him. Half of it isn't really processing but some little details just click and the picture changes as a new piece is added to the puzzle.

"Recorded and possible communication between her and you include meetings, conferences, phone calls, emails, presentations, and Stark Industries events. She was in every guest list to SI events even before officially working as a consultant.”

FRIDAY goes on to list details of certain meetings, galas, and other events where the two were confirmed to be at. Listing times she apparently called him. In the end, it doesn’t really matter though, right? Knowing all the times he met her, all the opportunities in which this situation could have happened, all the times she stayed silent.

One email doesn't count. One email doesn’t make up for the rest.

“She never told me.”

It’s a weird feeling. This thought of betrayal. It’s not really personal, he didn’t know her. And yet it's so personal with his own daddy issues.

Obadiah had his own reasons. Outside of not wanting an heir when he still had to get rid of Tony. Probably wanted to keep it under in case it was just another fake claim too. But Mary had everything to win. She had a legitimate claim, the baby was real, it was Tony's. Maybe Tony was an asshole back then but still, didn't he have a right to know? At least of his existence? To have a whole debate on being a terrible influence for another human being and just supplying money? A chance to deal with his own demons regarding fathers when there was a chance of new hope? Even if he had no intention of continuing a cycle of Stark men. Not years later now that the boy was grown and appearing on Tony's radar for a completely different reason.

“There is an appointment between you and Ms. Fitzpatrick, Boss." FRIDAY's voice has startled him again. He keeps getting lost in his own mind. "She requested to have a private meeting with you. It doesn’t say the reason other than that it is a personal issue and important. The closeness of the dates between when preparations began for Mr. Parker's coverage and this meeting don't seem coincidental”

“What happened?”

Had she actually told him? Had he refused to have anything to do with it? Left it to Obadiah to deal with? No. Tony would remember the meeting. Wouldn't he? A pregnancy claim wouldn't be something he would just forget. He still remembers one or two of those fake claims.

FRIDAY’s voice was apologetic. It did not sit well with Tony. Nothing of this situation did, though.

“Mr. Stane went to the appointment. Ever since there was no more contact between you and Ms. Fitzpatrick; the email with the photo is the last attempt at any type of communication recorded. There is nothing else. Not even a phone call.”

So Obadiah stood in the way. Just like he had done keeping him away from his own company for years.

A part in the back of Tony’s mind that is still rational thinking finds this incongruous. How did he not know this? There is proof. Sure at first he couldn’t be bothered, but when he explicitly looked through everything Obadiah ever did in Stark Industries this should have come up. He wouldn't have missed this. But that same part of his brain supplies. _You_ wouldn’t have missed it. But you didn’t do the search. You didn’t manually read every email, JARVIS was tasked with looking. Tony did the code, he knew how JARVIS scanned and processed relevant information through key words and phrases.

Suddenly the name _Mary Fitzpatrick_ hits him like another bomb.

The face was familiar, the name should have rung a bell if he hadn’t been processing two words a minute, her taking the job from her father, the death in 05. Mary Fitzpatrick _had_ appeared in Obidiah’s emails. Tony had figured it out when looking through his shady dealings after the fight. Mary had had one job at SI, and it had been to cover up every shady thing that could get them in trouble. Her father had done it for Howard, and now Mary had done it for Obadiah. Had covered Obadiah’s dealings from Tony.

Maybe she would have covered his kidnapping if she’d been alive. Or maybe Obadiah had seen her as more of a threat than an ally and had her killed. Maybe he had actually been trying to get rid of Peter.

What else is left? He knows whatever bad blood could have been between Obadiah and the Parker’s is gone. The boy is still alive even if his mother and Stane are dead. Their deaths years apart. The boy lives with his aunt, right? Does the aunt know? Does she have the answers?

FRIDAY pulling him out of his mind has been a constant for the past hour. It shouldn’t surprise him at all. But what she says is unexpected. Although he should have seen it coming. It should have been obvious.

“I’ve found the Parker’s main contact with Stark Industries. Her name is Alessa Brown, she is the Head HR Manager of Stark Industries. She has been the main contact since 2001 and was transferred to New York when SI offices began operations at the lower levels of the Tower in 2012."

Answers. Straight answers. From the source. Here was someone who worked for him and had the obligation to respond to him. Here was someone who knew what had gone down years ago. Had been part of everything for all these years and said nothing. Probably under orders to keep things under wraps.

Before that though, Tony had one more question that FRIDAY could provide a direct answer to.

In whatever part of himself that coped in a twisted sense of humour Tony found himself letting out an abrupt laugh. He knew what the answer would be. Still, he had to ask.

“And who, pray tell, Fri, assigned her as the Parker’s main contact?”

FRIDAY’s hesitation was expected. It was an answer without answering and Tony just smirked.

“Did the Trojan get to your speech programming?” Tony’s voice had a certain fake lightness to it that belied the closeness of his throat.

Even with the joke, the AI took a few more seconds to reply, perhaps regretting her words. Her voice was a sigh.

“Obadiah Stane, Boss.”

Tony nodded, his whole head moving slowly, first up, then down. Closing his eyes and his hands fisting on his sides. He knew the answer to the question. He’d known what FRIDAY would say. But hearing it confirmed was different. It was a different feeling than knowing it in his gut and mind. The way his blood starts feeling like it's boiling. The way his heartbeat is coming faster again. The feeling of his fingers digging into his palm. The rushing in his ears. 

There is a split second where everything is nothing.

Then he opens his eyes and grabs the first heavy object he finds and hurls it at the wall. The object breaks. Glass shatters. FRIDAY’s voice is frantic. But only one thing matters to Tony. There is only one thing in his mind. Only one thought.

Obadiah is still screwing him over, even though he’s six feet under.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the kudos, bookmarks, and taking the time to comment. It makes me so happy. And also that you guys actually enjoy this. I'm so glad of that. Fills me with dopamine.  
> I have a [Tumblr](https://blackchessknight.tumblr.com/)
> 
> You guys have been asking me about more of this story, and I do have a second part in the works but I'm not sure when that'll be ready so I thought leaving this as a one-shot and marked as complete would be better as it can be read on its own. I am planning on adding a second chapter but I still don't know if this fic will have a continuation after that or not. We'll see. If I do continue, this will probably be a series. I like to think of this fic as Tony being a little detective to how Obadiah hid things under his nose.
> 
> Next time we will see Tony meet the Head Human Resources Manager of Stark Industries, Alessa Brown.


	2. The Blind Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets HR Head Manager at Stark Industries, Ms. Alessa Brown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest with you all, I wasn't planning on writing another 4k. Which I guess is good cause I didn't write 4k, I wrote 6k. Like I said there's something about this story that it just writes itself. This was meant to be a lot shorter than it is, yet at the same time, it could have been a lot longer. God help me.

The lab is a mess.

Not in the way it usually is when Tony spends hours upon hours working on a project and everything is out of place. No, this time Tony deliberately took things from their place and hurled them at the walls. He took a shelf with metals and shoved it at the chemicals cabinet. At one point he took an Iron Man gauntlet and began shooting.

During his rampage Tony goes up to the penthouse. He is walking through the elevator doors and towards the bar on the other side of the room. There’s plenty to choose from, everything is so neatly organized that Tony snatches the first bottle of the strongest liquor before he starts throwing things. He doesn’t bother with a glass, just opens the bottle and takes a swing. It burns his throat and Tony welcomes it. He’s already walking towards the elevator by the time he takes a second drink.

It’s entering his lab that he notices he never took off the Iron Man gauntlet.

Tony just takes another swing of the bottle.

That’s all he does. He takes a swing. He shoots. He takes a swing. He hurls something at the wall. He takes a swing. He shoots. He takes a swing. He throws something to the floor.

Sometimes he shoots twice instead of aiming.

Tony’s aiming at a holoscreen now. He shoots and nothing happens to it. The blast passes right through it. He shoots again. Nothing happens, and Tony shoots again. He keeps shooting at it and the holoscreen only blinks. He hurls the bottle he’s holding at it with a shout. It passes right through. 

Tony screams at the screen and strides towards it. He’s only a few steps away when another screen catches his attention. The screen has Peter’s school picture next to the photo of a woman. _Alessa Brown._

An explanation. Answers. That he needs. He needs someone to tell him what happened. He needs someone to blame.

Tony tells FRIDAY to plan a meeting with her for the morning, to get a list of all expenses for Peter on display while she’s at it. He steps out the lab doors.

When Tony returns to the lab the screens show different accounting documents categorized by year. On top of each screen there’s a title with Peter’s age. The one Tony walks to reads: _Peter age 3._

He is in no state to read through all that, let alone understand it. So he tasks FRIDAY with listing off everything he’s paid for. It’s an extensive list. Starting with the moment Mary started receiving care for her pregnancy paid by SI.

He learns of many things. The one that won’t leave his mind is a crib with spinning airplanes that are on top of the crib-he doesn’t recall the name for it even if FRIDAY just said it- for when Peter was born.

He sees it. The crib.

Tony stands in a room painted a light blue. It looks like his old nursery from the photos. Everything is almost identical. Except the crib has those airplanes that spin. They’re spinning right now.

A muffled sound comes from the crib. It sounds like someone having trouble sleeping. Tony takes a step towards the crib. The noise gets a little louder and it seems to turn into whimpers. Tony takes quick steps to the edge of the crib and peers inside. There's a baby in there. He's covered in a light blue blanket and a small baby hat.

Tony grabs the edge of the crib and the baby opens his eyes. Bright brown orbs look back at him.

It’s Peter.

The baby is Peter, and he's smiling at Tony. Peter squeals in delight, moving his arms a little up and down on the crib.

Tony gasps softly. Peter is so tiny. He looks soft, small, _breakable_. Tony is terrified of touching him. He slowly, very slowly, reaches for Peter. Touching his belly with his fingertips, moving them up to his round cheeks. Peter laughs. It's carefree. It's a melody in Tony's ears.

Out of the corner of his eyes Tony sees it. A bomb. It wasn’t there a second ago. Tony turns to it, his hand frozen on Peter's head. The bomb is lying right next to Peter. The exact same one that exploded in front of him in Afghanistan. The words _Stark Industries_ printed neatly for him to see.

Tony snaps back to Peter to grab him and sees he is no longer over the crib near Peter. Tony’s at the door. Peter is standing on the crib, relaying on the side of it to help him stand. He's reaching out for Tony. He has both his arms extended and making grabbing motions with his hands. Peter’s in distress, openly sobbing, screaming in his own way for help.

Tony doesn't think, he _runs_ towards Peter.

The bomb explodes before he’s even halfway.

Tony sits up abruptly, opening his eyes wide. He is breathing fast, sweat covering him, his body cold. There's almost no light in the lab. The sun is barely coming out on the horizon beyond the glass windows. Tony moves to a sitting position, his back and neck protesting the movement. He is still trying to calm his breathing. Scrubbing his hand over his face, a piercing pain stabs his head.

Tony begins looking around, trying to orientate himself. There’s an empty bottle to his left, next to another one that’s half full, though the broken glass he can see across the floor suggests there might have been more. The rest of the lab is no better. Probably the only glass standing are the windows and the doors to the lab. There are scorched marks on all parts of the walls. The cabinets are broken, the shelves toppled over. _Did-did he destroy Mark XLIII?_ It’s clearly in pieces.

There’s a small beep somewhere around him. The sound of broken glass being stepped on is heard in between the beeps. A claw appears in front of Tony, holding what must be an oil smoothie. Behind DUM-E, almost cowed are U and Butterfingers. DUM-E moves his claw up and down after a small set of beeps.

“I’m good. No need for that.” Tony’s voice sounds breathless in his own ears.

Tony lifts his hand to the cup DUM-E is holding and pushes it away weakly. There’s a series of beeps from DUM-E.

“I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.”

Tony moves his hand to grab hold of the edge of the counter he’s been leaning against, gripping it to slowly pick himself up. Something pops into place as he gets up. From this vantage point, the lab looks worse. He doesn’t want to know how it will look with light.

It’s the early hours of the morning but Tony will begin his day. He will shower and drink some coffee, maybe get something to munch on. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and whatnot. Definitely get something for the headache, the pounding in his head started the moment he got up. He won’t go back to sleep now. He _can’t_. Not with that nightmare. That brand new nightmare.

“DUM-E, U, Butterfingers, you guys begin cleaning this up. Just…” Tony waves his hand dismissively, it’s not like they can make this worse. “Maybe sweep the glass. Something.”

Tony sighs. He should start cleaning up his own mess but the headache is killing him. And there’s things he can’t postpone for later. Some things he can’t ignore. No matter how much he wants. Every hour that passes is another hour too late. 

* * *

When Alessa comes into the human resources department in the morning she is expecting to be flooded with questions, problems, and updates. They are still planning the move of SI to the Bronx and coordinating most existing employees that will follow, hiring new ones; and training is becoming such a hassle with the timeframe without mentioning the new planned facility in Egypt that's in the works. There is also the September Foundation that is halfway through, there's the spring SI picnic-that she's really looking forward to-and there's still some tension between PR and Marketing which no one in HR knows what's happening-she's heard gossip and that's nothing official, even if the story is good enough to compete with her TV dramas. The things off the top of her head are plenty enough to bother her the whole morning.

As she passes the glass doors and smiles at Janessa in the front desk she expects her to get up and follow her with meetings, updates, maybe a problem or two. Someone to pop up from the moving team about distribution of space, Anneliese with questions for the foundation, Edeline with another unofficial story of the feud between PR and Marketing. Hadley, her assistant, should already be here. But none of that happens, there's a smile on Jan’s face that shows a friendly exterior. Jan extends her hand and leaves a paper on the wood for Alessa to pick up.

"Morning, Al. There's only a meeting for you today." Her eyebrows rise in question as Alessa looks at the memo. It's a handwritten note from her assistant detailing the biggest conference room in HR, the time-10:30- and the meeting with- "With the head of R&D, Iron Man himself. I do wonder what he could possibly want with the head of HR?"

The way Jan's voice tilts suggests Alessa might be in trouble and wants the full story, but Alessa is a little too busy wondering the same thing to reply.

As head manager of HR in Stark Industries, Alessa Brown has been in many meetings with the big wigs of SI, which for years now also included fellow woman Pepper Potts. She'd been in many meetings with head of R&D, owner of SI, and Iron Man himself, Tony Stark many times; and in none of them did he ever pay attention to her, nor any opinion she gave, or information she presented. He rarely paid attention at all. She came in contact with Ms. Potts more often than she ever did with Mr. Stark when he was CEO. Which is why when she is asked to be at a _private meeting_ with Tony Stark it comes out of left field. What could she have done to merit that?

Alessa takes it in stride and smiles at Jan, as if everything is as it should. Like she was actually expecting the meeting.

"Thank you, Jan. Send Hadley to me as soon as possible."

Alessa nods in Jan’s direction as she begins to walk towards her office. A brisk pace that's short of power walking.

Right now she has to get to her office and go through everything. Maybe get some numbers, a few locations considered for the move, the update on the recently opened factory. There was just so much stuff that could be of interest to the majority owner of the company. That was the thing though, what was the meeting about? Usually you knew what an out of schedule meeting was about because of recent events, or who was in the meeting. But this wasn't like those times. Was Mr. Stark here as owner? Was he here as head of R&D? What did he want?

Alessa reaches her door and opens without a second thought. She needs to be calm and collected out here, but inside her office she can breathe and calm herself. She has done nothing wrong no matter how Jan suggested so.

She's only two steps inside her office when she freezes in her spot. No more calming alone time behind her doors. There's already a man sitting in her chair. Not one of the two for people who come _into_ her office. No. _Hers_ . _Behind her desk._

Mr. Stark is inspecting one of her paperweights, a small structure of the Arc de Triomphe made of Apatite. She got it on her visit to Paris last year. He hasn't noticed her yet. Or maybe he's pretending he hasn't. That thought makes her compose herself. Or try to the best she can.

"Amm" Alessa opens her mouth and closes it, she had been planning on saying something. Not that the thought mattered.

Alessa tries to take a breath again. She thinks her words before she says them. Alessa thinks Mr. Stark glanced at her when she first began to speak but hopefully it was her imagination.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark. Alessa Brown, Head Manager of Human Resources. I was told we'd have a meeting later this morning. What can I help you with?"

Mr. Stark turned his head towards her after “good morning”. Slowly moving the whole chair as she kept talking. He inspects her. Then he lowers her paperweight and speaks.

"I figured giving notice before the meeting was polite." His tone of voice says he absolutely does not care about politeness. "But I believe it's better to keep people on their toes."

Alessa just takes a small breath, straightening her back as far as she can. This meeting feels like it could be her last.

* * *

In all honesty, Tony expected something else. Sure, he knew her general information, the basics of her story, her accomplishments, he’d seen her picture. But that information can be deceiving. A lot of people can't hide in person.

Her office is impeccable. Her desk is glass with a wood body, a few framed pictures, a black reclinable chair, some decoration things too, her computer monitor on display. The rest of the room is decorated like most SI offices, at least the few he's been in. A plant in the corner, no curtains for the floor to ceiling windows behind the desk, a bookshelf and cabinet to the side. There are a few framed certificates on a wall.

It irks Tony to be here. It feels wrong somehow. Not in an 'I'm invading someone's space' way. More a 'this is the den of lies where you're sitting'.

He should have thought things through he supposes. Done more an extensive research on her, read through all the involvement, a thorough search of her connexions within Stark Industries and outside of them. Anything and everything FRIDAY could tell him. He isn't one to wait though, and his impulse control lacks in sensible topics. He needs answers, he needs them since yesterday, and Alessa Brown has them. Maybe she's the only one who can tell him the truth. The only one left alive who knows what happened 15 years ago.

When the woman came into her office it was clear she was expecting to take a breath. She startled the moment she noticed someone else in the room with her. Frozen in front of him for about 4 seconds. After her little pause and failed attempt to speak she finally introduced herself and Tony could start judging her in person.

Again, not what he was expecting. She seems a lot softer around the edges than he expected. Doesn’t mean Tony will go easy on her. This is the woman who has kept the secret for years. She could have told him at any moment. And although it probably isn’t her fault, she’s still the only person Tony can blame. The only one he can express his frustration out on. Tony still doesn’t know where he stands and lashing out is a very old habit of his, a bad one at that.

Tony looks at her as he sets his hands on the desk and waits. He takes a deep breath to remember he needs answers. Tony makes a small motion towards the chairs in front of the desk with his head. Ms. Brown almost trips in her rush to sit as gracely as possible.

Rigid. Tense. Face neutral. Eyes questioning but trepidation clear.

Tony pulls out his phone and Alessa Brown’s information projects upwards. Tony’s voice begins casual, as if this was an interview, not a meeting with one of his employees.

"You've been working here for what, twenty years? Fifteen of those as the Head of Human Resources across all of Stark Industries?”

Tony nods towards the projection in front of him. Ms. Brown’s picture is displayed at the top right corner of her SI profile. His voice continues nonchalant, yet the same sense of interview prevails.

“Bold move to give that position to someone who only had five years at the company. Let alone the same time for experience.” Tony lets that information settle for a few seconds. Enough for her to process but not enough to let her respond to it. He moves his right hand in a dismissive motion as he continues. “There’s also that little known fact of how man dominated this business has always been. Someone could say you were… unqualified for the promotion."

Ms. Brown seems to catch up to the implications and snaps her gaze away from her information on display. Trepidation turns to dread. Tony holds her eyes as they change emotions. Holds until Brown breaks it by glancing at her information again.

"What is the purpose of this meeting Mr. Stark?"

Tony supposes he should give her credit for not letting her voice tremble out right, though he won’t. Although he also doesn’t know how she usually sounds, so he’ll leave relenting any credit alone. He chooses instead to completely ignore her question and add another document to the display with his hand.

"Quite _remarkable_ résumé you have.” Tony doesn’t mean that as a compliment, and it most definitely does not sound like one either. “Berkeley University business graduate with honours. You have an MBA from Stanford. Had a very nice internship in LA at a small company. Straight into Stark Industries as soon as you got your masters.”

Another twist of the hand and more documents appear covering the firsts.

“You coordinate human resources, which is no easy task as Pepper says. A few projects you’re in charge of, let’s see, you are part of the group for that new facility. There’s also moving SI uptown. A few SI events.” Tony makes a half impressed face which he is sure doesn’t fool Ms. Brown. Not that it was meant to. “All that must have you pretty busy. Must be nice to travel the world as a job though. And all those benefits from such a high ranking position”

Tony moves his phone to the side of the desk, the display following it. He interlaces his hands on the desk, reclining slightly forward. Displaying all the power he actually has, the threat that he poses. He’s done beating around the bush.

“But there’s an extra activity you have. A special job that's kept you in your position for so long." Tony uses the same tone as before, the underlying implication that she obtained her job through some unsavory ways.

Brown takes a breath and purses her lips. Her eyes turn to hold Tony’s.

"This is sounding like a threat, Mr. Stark." She says carefully. Her eyes have changed again, now they’re showing fear.

Tony flourishes in that. Her fear feeds him. It’s a tactic he only uses with enemies, sometimes competitors. He doesn’t like instilling fear in people, but Tony doesn’t know her intentions, if she is an enemy in his company. He has to be wary, he has to be ready.

"Tell me, does the project Blue Bird ring a bell?" Tony questions. It’s the same tone as when implying her extra activity in her job. He’s accusing her.

Brown widens her eyes immediately, before quickly narrowing them.

"Have you finally grown a conscience?" Brown challenges.

The venom in her voice is shocking. Up until this point she has been nothing but polite and professional, albeit a little scared and maybe even a bit submissive; in the end it was her boss she was talking to.

It certainly makes Tony take a second. It doesn't show on his face. But the pause is there.

“Have I grown a conscience?” Tony snarls. “Are you seriously asking _me_?”

Tony knows some people don’t see past his mistakes. He knows no matter how much he tries to fix things he can’t erase the past. And that it does not matter how much he sacrifices to not make more mistakes and atone for the previous ones, some of his mistakes are too grave to forgive. But to _think_ that he _doesn’t_ have a conscience after everything that’s happened. It may not be clean but he _has one._ Does _she_ have one? Knowing she’s been keeping the truth all these years? Ensuring he doesn’t know?

“What about _you_ , Ms. Brown? Do you have one considering you’ve been keeping my child a secret from me all this time?” Tony slams his hand on the desk. “What ground do _you_ have to stand on?”

The noise makes Brown jump in her seat. Her eyes are wide open, shoulders tense, hands moved closed to her body. Her eyes are full of befuddlement and fear, no longer is the skeptical judgment of a weird meeting with her boss present. She is completely out of her depth, her eyes scream that she does not understand what is going on.

Tony has been breathing hard and he doesn’t notice it until he hears himself. Ms. Brown hasn’t made any noise since he spoke and seems actually too petrified to speak. Calming his breathing is the priority right now. He can’t hyperventilate in front of her. Tony looks away from her, her confused and terrified state too much for him. He wanted a villain and she is not acting like one.

Tony turns to look at her when she speaks again. However much time passed since then he can’t tell.

“I don’t understand.” Her voice trembles this time. It’s shaky, like it hadn’t been before. As it turns out she does deserve the credit for not letting her voice tremble. “I…” Her voice trails off and becomes a deep breath. She slowly sets her hands on top of each other on the desk.

“Mr. Stark, I haven’t been keeping Peter a secret from you. I’ve only been doing the job you gave me.” She speaks slowly, brow furrowed. If confusion was a tone, this would be it. “The instructions were pretty clear. We were to never mention your son to you.”

Tony huffs and crosses his arms in front of his chest. Of course she’s just following orders. That’s what everyone does. Do as told and not question it. It’s what he did for many years. His attitude turns into a stiff nonchalance that probably doesn’t fool her. He shrugs his shoulders and speaks.

“Well that’s all great, following orders. So well I just found out I had one last night.”

"Mr. Stark…" Her voice is horrified, in a soft and fragile way. He hates it.

Tony speaks before she can think of words or worse, just stare at him like he’s a kicked puppy. He doesn’t want her sympathy. He just wants answers.

"How long have you known?"

His voice is abrupt. He narrows his eyes at her. Apparently she was under the impression that he knew. Just like Mary. That didn’t make it right though. She wasn’t to blame for this, but he had no intention of giving her a free pass.

Ms. Brown rearranges herself in her seat and purses her lips. She bows her head a little, moving it from side to side slowly. Whatever her thought process or resolve was she finally lifts her head and squares her shoulders.

"Since Mr. Stane ordered I take care of this back in 2001. I didn’t know.” She pauses to make eye contact. She inclines forward slightly. Asking for forgiveness or trying to explain herself, Tony isn’t sure. “It wasn’t really a choice. Mr. Stane just said I was to take care of something and I would be promoted to head of my department. I would get everything that came with it, the raise, the office, the car, the benefits… the position could be mine forever. He said you didn’t want anyone to know you had a son. I would be in charge of everything so long as I made sure it was as if Peter didn't exist."

Tony leans forward, setting his elbows on the desk. He fists his hands. There’s tension on his shoulders and back, he can feel it. Of course it was Stane. Of course it was him. Tony has the desire to grab one of the paperweights in front of him and throw it at the wall. He wants to call an Iron Man suit and blast the doors. He wants a drink. He’d known it was him. But confirmation feels worse. Stane couldn’t leave him alone, it was bad enough he was still paying the price for his and Stane’s sins. _What else had Stane done? How much had he actually screwed him over?_

Ms. Brown is oblivious to his turmoiled mind. She took time to compose herself and now she’s talking again. She doesn’t seem to be asking for forgiveness anymore. Tony is glad he doesn’t need to speak in order for her to talk. He’s not sure he could. He lets her explain herself.

"I didn't question my task for many years, Mr. Stark. It made sense.” Her head moves to look around the room, taking a second or two in each corner of her office. “I thought it was probably standard procedure for every unplanned pregnancy of a rich businessman.”

The description she used of Tony is far more benevolent than how many people thought of him back in the day. It makes him wonder again what he would have done if he’d known since the beginning. It’s something he doesn’t like to think about. It’s something he hasn’t actually given himself the time to think about.

Ms. Brown continues.

“Then you became Iron Man and I began to resent you.” Her gaze is back at Tony and he can feel the hatred harbored through all those years. The way she wasn’t anywhere close to his number one fan. She most definitely still isn’t. Ms. Brown was working herself up, moving her hands, her eyes reliving her own experience. Her voice was becoming louder as she talked. “If you were claiming to be a hero, how could you still just ignore your son? I thought that you didn't want to involve yourself because you were 'cleaning' your image as it was. I even hated you. At one point I convinced myself it was better for Peter to stay away from you. From the danger. The scandals. The spotlight. The bad role model."

When the last word leaves her mouth she falls. Her shoulders slump, arms falling to her sides. No longer a straight back. Like a puppet who got its strings cut. Her voice reflects it too, she’s tired.

"Now though, knowing that you didn't know… I feel... guilty.” Her hand moves to hold her arm and she seems to be hugging herself. Her free hand is gesturing as she talks. “I was complicit. Maybe I didn't know it, but I still was. I judged you too hard. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt.”

Tony doesn’t know what to think. She isn’t the villain he wanted to paint her as. He’d had the idea that maybe he wouldn’t be able to, but blaming a living person is easier than blaming a corpse. You can’t confront a corpse. You can’t get payback.

“So many opportunities to tell you after you had changed. After Iron Man. I debated many times to give you a piece of my mind, or just mention him to rattle you. I should have.” Her voice is imploring, Tony knows she is asking for forgiveness. Something he doesn’t know if he can give her. This is all too much. “I should have thought of Peter instead of me. I could have broken the chain of lies before you found out yourself years later."

Tony is quiet. Her words… don’t change the truth. He’s a futurist, he doesn’t like to be caught in the past. Tony learns from his mistakes and thinks ahead. Whatever decisions she could have made don’t matter anymore. What matters is the decisions made now.

Tony thinks as little as he can of choices and decisions right now. He’s terrified of them. He knows he’ll have to face it eventually. But gathering information is a step to that, not just his excuse to ignore making them.

The silence stretches. Tony asks so that the silence doesn't leave him thinking about the situation. He needs to be on his own for that. He asks the first thing that comes to his mind.

“What do you do for Peter? What does SI do for him?”

"We do things for him in your name. In the name of SI, really. We've sent Peter presents for his birthday and Christmas in the name of SI. I’ve personally sent one or two on occasion. We've hired a party planner more than once for his birthday. Which SI pays for. I sent him and his family VIP passes to the Expo.” She gives a grim smile. “Kinda feeling that I shouldn't have done that now. With what went down.”

Tony has heard the expenses through FRIDAY. But this is different. This is the story behind the charges he heard.

Ms. Brown stares at him instead of telling more.

"Wouldn't you prefer to know who he is rather than what we do for him, Mr. Stark?"

Tony doesn't have the will to look her in the eyes. Not because she might judge him, but because it's hard thinking about Peter. How Peter is and the reasons he's that person now. Mainly that he’s safely away from Tony.

Ms. Brown seems to have the need to fill the silence because she keeps talking. She no longer asks for forgiveness, or to let her explain. She just talks.

"He's a really sweet and smart boy. He's a really strong boy, too. I was there for every funeral. For his parents', for his uncle's. And he's lifted himself back up every time."

At this Tony looks up. The thought that Peter had to lift himself up on his own. Alone. After losing his family. Even Tony had Rhodey by his side.

Ms. Brown seems to pick up on his distress.

"I've known all the Parker's. That sorta happens when you check up on someone at least once a month. His aunt and uncle weren't blood-related but they still loved him. His father wasn't his dad and he loved Peter. They were very good people. They've been good for Peter. All he has left is his aunt and she’s great for him."

Tony should feel elated. And _he is_. Peter’s been with people who love him, who've raised him and treated him as their own. But another part is angry, he's mad about something he can't blame the Parker's for. They probably believed Tony didn't want anything to do with Peter. And maybe Peter is better off with someone else raising him but it still hurts. Howard always pushed him aside to be raised by someone else.

See this is why he can't think about it now. He goes down a spiral he's not sure he'll survive without adrenaline or alcohol.

"I can't say anyone's ever liked the idea of hiding someone like this, but it had to be done."

“Well, so much for your job of keeping him a secret." Tony comments. He is already moving in the chair. Glaring at the framed picture on the desk. Tony breaths, trying to remind himself his anger wasn't at her. Not really. As far as she was concerned she was only doing as told.

"Mr. Stark, I don't know how you found out, but I can assure my colleagues and I have done everything in our power to ensure the best life for Peter-”

"Colleagues? Who else knows about this?" Tony interrupts.

"Well, a small team." Ms. Brown says as if it's obvious. The silence she gets clearly confuses her. Her eyebrows furrow, tilting her head slightly, a look of confoundment displaying across her face. "That's what Blue Bird _is_ , Mr. Stark. A team of SI employees with the goal to ensure Peter remains a secret. We ensure Peter’s prosperity not just financially but also as a person. We just have the advantage of Stark Industries’ resources to do it."

“So you have a little group where you just happen to talk about Peter. Where you plan what you think is best for him. Maybe gossip about him to others.”

Tony knows he's lashing out, but it's because he _doesn’t know._ Peter is out there. Peter is his son and he _doesn’t know what to do about it._ He doesn’t know if he’ll make things better or worse. He just knows he at least has to meet him. He has to do that.

"Well, there's the little fact that we're not allowed to talk about him outside of work. Or at all. Not the real reason we're associated, at least. NDA clauses and the likes in contracts. No one can know Tony Stark has a son." Ms. Brown snorts and does a movement with her hands as if referencing the world. Her eyes dim a few seconds later. "Not even Tony Stark himself I suppose."

He won’t take this. He won’t take her pity. He has enough he has to deal with, appearing weak or defenseless won’t help him. He’s already vulnerable enough by revealing they’ve kept a very important secret from him for years.

So just like other times, Tony changes directions by distracting. He keeps working. Getting more information, having a bigger picture. Following all the leads. At this point, the fact no one who works under Blue Bird can talk about Peter's true parentage shouldn't be unexpected, and really it isn't. Not anymore. Tony goes back to his line of questioning.

“And no one else knows of this? Absolutely no one?”

Tony is skeptical that _no one_ else has figured it out. They are doing a lot of things under SI’s name. Someone must have caught wind of this, at least other employees outside their group. Even if they were able to keep this from him. In Tony’s experience people always find out, one way or another.

Ms. Brown seems to consider his question seriously. All previous emotions sent to the back burner apparently.

“No. I can assure it.” 

Tony is hesitant to believe that.

“No one could have even an idea of it?”

Her eyes keep looking into her past. Moving from one object on her desk to another. Her left index finger taping on her right hand for a while. Her lips pursed.

“Well, I don’t believe so. I mean there was once we thought we’d get found out but didn’t.”

Ms. Brown looks up to Tony ready to dismiss the idea. Tony stares hard at her and doesn’t take more than a second before she continues.

“One member of our team used to work for Mary. I don’t know much about what happened. I just heard him complaining about someone sniffing too close to our puppy job.” Ms. Brown sees the confusion in Tony. “He likes codes and claims Blue Bird is too official."

Ms. Brown shrugs her shoulders and continues her tale without much care for the story.

"All I really know is back when you became Iron Man someone from some government agency or something came to ask questions. Seb claimed he did the cat and mouse Olympics of espionage. He wouldn't stop bragging about it for weeks." She shakes her head in mild annoyance as a little grin forms in her face. "It's an old joke we have that Mary was a spy, and he’s one now. He just covers for us, he's not an actual spy. He knows a few tricks for keeping stuff away from prying eyes, like Mary used to do. Anyway, our jobs were on the line with this, we got close to being found out, but in the end, we pulled through. That’s probably as close to finding out as they’ll be."

Tony feels his heart stop. Back when he became Iron Man. _Romanoff_ . Does she know? She wouldn’t hide this from him would she? And wouldn’t he have found that in the SHIELD files when he hacked it? The hard truth is he doesn’t know the answers to most of these questions. If he couldn’t find out about Peter in his _own_ files what made him think he would have found them in SHIELD’s?

A half chuckle comes out of Tony involuntarily. He would have seen that as an extension of his SHIELD file wouldn't he? What does he really know of the spy world? He came crashing into it.

An invasive thought comes. _Were they HYDRA’s files?_

This is too much. The prospect of Nat _knowing_ and _not_ telling is too much for him. More than anyone else knowing. He needs to get out of here. He will break if he remains in this room. Tony will fact check her story, she might not have reason to lie but Tony isn’t risking it. She’s believed for fifteen years her career and more has depended on this remaining a secret. She wouldn’t tell him something she thought would jeopardize that. Besides, she’s not going anywhere, he can ask her more when he isn’t on the verge of panic. And there are more people he needs to investigate.

This was much simpler when all he had to wonder was why SI paid for Peter Parker’s lunch. 

_Should he have left that alone and just not cared?_

He needs to get out before he has an attack.

“Well, I have to go.” Tony gets up from the chair as he finishes the sentence, putting on his sunglasses. He walks around the desk and towards the door in his ‘I own the building’ walk. Perhaps a little hurried as he talks. “Send me the details of everyone involved in Blue Bird. I’ll be checking in with them soon. There’s a visit scheduled for next week to check up on Peter. I’m going.” 

There’s probably somewhere in the database where every member of Blue Bird appears, but it helps fact check her story. Tony is halfway through the office when Ms. Brown speaks rapidly. Startled.

“You’re planning on visiting him?”

Tony doesn’t give her an answer. He just keeps walking towards the door.

“He doesn’t know.” Ms. Brown bursts out, abruptly standing up. That makes Tony pause with his hand on the door handle but doesn’t turn around. She continues in a hurry, he hears her heels as she takes a few steps. “Peter doesn't know. Mary and Richard decided there was no need for him to know. As far as I’m aware, he thinks it's part of a Stark Industries policy. May, his aunt, doesn’t know it's you, Mr. Stark. She knows Peter’s actual father works at Stark Industries and thinks that he is simply paying his due. She believes you've known this whole time. _We all have._ ”

There’s a brief pause. Tony somehow knows what she’ll say next will shake him to his core.

“He doesn’t know you exist, Mr. Stark."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skimmed over some information for Alessa’s résumé so it might be lacking, but at the same time, I wanted to keep it unremarkable to show how odd her promotion was. Hopefully I did that well.
> 
> If it feels like the conversation was rushed it's because it is. I'm sorry. I'm not really planning on coming back to her character so I just wanted to get this over with. I might come back one day and makes this whole thing longer just for the conversation to be less rushed but I make absolutely no promises.
> 
> Regarding Tony, at this point isn't very good with kids, he hasn't resolved many of his issues. Peter helped him a lot in Hoco, and this story takes place before they even meet. So Tony believing bad things about himself as a parent, now or in the past, or that Peter might be better off without him comes from that. He has a lot to learn but he'll get there.
> 
> I also love Irondad and am impatient so we'll see his growth pretty fast. The next fic won't be Tony learning to care for Peter, it'll be more of learning to be a parent. Which I am no expert in being, I'm not one so hopefully I'll make a good enough job writing it.
> 
> Also, I can't believe this is now a series. This honestly was not what I had planned. It was supposed to be a one-shot. I don't like to post things that aren't fully written so it looks like we'll have to wing it. But that's my life now.


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